Tag: nuclear power
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Antares Wins $161 Million Space Force Award to Advance Orbital Nuclear Reactor
Antares has received a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough award to conduct a ground demonstration of its R1-S nuclear reactor and integrate the system with a spacecraft for flight certification, the company announced September 11. The award, issued through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, moves Antares…
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Danube Drought Cuts Nuclear Output: How Satellites Support Water–Energy Risk Monitoring
On 20 August 2026, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy and Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant announced that Unit 5 would be reduced by approximately 120 MW on 21 August as a preventive measure in response to the Danube’s continuing decline to critically low levels. The reduction was equivalent to roughly 12% of the unit’s approximately 1,000 MW…
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Could nuclear heaters keep astronauts warm on the moon? NASA is funding research to find out
This collage highlights some of the projects selected for funding through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, including a study looking at radioisotope heating systems for moonwalking astronauts, depicted at center left. (NASA Graphic) NASA says it’s funding a new batch of far-out research projects, including a study evaluating how radioactive heaters can keep astronauts…
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City Labs Launches Commercial Nuclear-Powered CubeSat on SpaceX Rideshare Mission
City Labs has launched what it describes as the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite, marking a milestone in the development of alternative power systems for spacecraft. The company’s BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) spacecraft was launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare mission. According to City Labs, it is also the first CubeSat to carry a commercial nuclear…
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Firefly Gets $13M to Build NASA Skyfall Mars Aeroshell
Is Firefly Aerospace Building the Heat Shield for NASA’s Mars Helicopter Mission? Yes — and JPL just cut a $13 million check to make it happen. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $13 million subcontract to design and manufacture the aeroshell for the Skyfall mission — NASA’s first nuclear-powered interplanetary probe, targeting…
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Zeno Power raises $50M in funding to fuel development of next-gen nuclear batteries
An artist’s conception shows a lunar rover powered by a nuclear battery. (Zeno Power Illustration) Zeno Power, a startup that’s headquartered in Seattle as well as Washington, D.C., today announced the completion of a $50 million funding round to boost the development of nuclear batteries for maritime and space applications. The Series B round was…
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Space experts foresee an “operational need” for nuclear power on the Moon
In February, NASA celebrated the arrival of the first US-made lander on the Moon in more than 50 years, an achievement that helps pave the way for the return of American astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade. But the clock was ticking for Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft after touching down on February 22 near the…
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Zeno demonstrates an innovative type of radioisotope heat source for off-grid power
Team members at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory remove Zeno Power’s strontium-90 heat source from a transfer port during a series of tests. (Zeno Power Photo) Zeno Power says it has successfully completed its first demonstration of a new type of radioisotope heat source that could be used to generate off-grid power in settings ranging from…
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How power is blazing a trail for America’s space effort — and for nuclear startups
An artist’s conception shows a nuclear thermal propulsion system at work in orbit (USNC-Tech Illustration) As more and more hardware goes into Earth orbit, and eventually to the moon and Mars, where will the power to run all those machines come from? That’s one of the questions under consideration at a State of the Space…
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Pentagon boosts two Seattle ventures working on nuclear-powered prototypes for space applications
An artist’s conception shows a spacecraft powered by Ultra Safe Nuclear systems. (USNC-Tech Illustration) Two Seattle companies have won Pentagon contracts to develop nuclear-powered prototypes for space applications, with orbital demonstrations set for 2027. The Defense Innovation Unit says Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies has been tasked with demonstrating a chargeable, encapsulated nuclear radioisotope battery called…